Del T Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 On a side note, where my old mate was a regular , the pilot of the plane used to scare beginners or people who were jumping tandem for say a charity by tapping his instruments,shouting that the plane was conking out and making the plane bob up and down pretending there was a major fault. ! As if jumping for the first time isn't bad enough. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEshooter Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 I have also done a jump in Byron bay. Amazing feeling and loved every minute. Keep getting tempted to do another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_magicfingers Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 I haven't jumped for the past few years due to financial constraints, but have a couple of hundred under my belt. Is it still exciting after 50 jumps, well, think about this. After getting my basic license I got bored with waiting for the UK weather to cooperate so I took a holiday to florida and jumped in the sunshine for 2 weeks, which put me at nearly 50 jumps. during that time I went from jumping with an instructor to jumping alone to jumping with 4 other people and doing formations along with learning to sit fly. I then went to the World Freefall Convention which at the time was in Illinois. In the week I was there I went from 48 jumps to 105 and I jumped out of the following: Hot air balloon the rear ramp of a skyvan jumped with the world sit fly champion from 22,000' (oxygen on the way up) out of the back of a Boeing 727 airliner out of a Bell 412 Huey helicopter (after being thrown around at near zero altitude, under trees, through cornfields etc) My 100th jump was a 2 point 8-way Hanging upside down from a biplane sunset jumps out of a DC3 jumping through hoops in mid air kissed a world champion in freefall met hundreds of the friendliest people imaginable who were all happy to pass on their knowledge and skills, most memorably a chap who I just knew as 'Scratch' who had a long white beard and hair and who told stories of his first 600 jumps where they were too poor to afford an alitmeter and so would pull their chutes when the ground looked big enough to be worrying. I once met an instructor who'd been a financial trader on Wall Street. They all worked hard and played hard so one weekend they spent saturday all doing a tandem jump each, then they went home. At 7am on Sunday she was standing outside the drop zone waiting for it to open. Within a month she'd sold her apartment, her BMW and moved into a trailer on a dropzone in Arizona and ended up teaching people to jump. Poor but stupidly happy. Yeah, at 50 jumps it starts to get really interesting. Instead of just falling through the air you start properly flying with other people. I wish I had more money to enjoy the hobbies I love. Do it, just do it, but don't blame me if you end up living on an airfield selling everything you own for the next 60 seconds of airtime. it's a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 That's a "living the dream post" Well done that man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muddy Funker Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 I haven't jumped for the past few years due to financial constraints, but have a couple of hundred under my belt. Is it still exciting after 50 jumps, well, think about this. After getting my basic license I got bored with waiting for the UK weather to cooperate so I took a holiday to florida and jumped in the sunshine for 2 weeks, which put me at nearly 50 jumps. during that time I went from jumping with an instructor to jumping alone to jumping with 4 other people and doing formations along with learning to sit fly. I then went to the World Freefall Convention which at the time was in Illinois. In the week I was there I went from 48 jumps to 105 and I jumped out of the following: Hot air balloon the rear ramp of a skyvan jumped with the world sit fly champion from 22,000' (oxygen on the way up) out of the back of a Boeing 727 airliner out of a Bell 412 Huey helicopter (after being thrown around at near zero altitude, under trees, through cornfields etc) My 100th jump was a 2 point 8-way Hanging upside down from a biplane sunset jumps out of a DC3 jumping through hoops in mid air kissed a world champion in freefall met hundreds of the friendliest people imaginable who were all happy to pass on their knowledge and skills, most memorably a chap who I just knew as 'Scratch' who had a long white beard and hair and who told stories of his first 600 jumps where they were too poor to afford an alitmeter and so would pull their chutes when the ground looked big enough to be worrying. I once met an instructor who'd been a financial trader on Wall Street. They all worked hard and played hard so one weekend they spent saturday all doing a tandem jump each, then they went home. At 7am on Sunday she was standing outside the drop zone waiting for it to open. Within a month she'd sold her apartment, her BMW and moved into a trailer on a dropzone in Arizona and ended up teaching people to jump. Poor but stupidly happy. Yeah, at 50 jumps it starts to get really interesting. Instead of just falling through the air you start properly flying with other people. I wish I had more money to enjoy the hobbies I love. Do it, just do it, but don't blame me if you end up living on an airfield selling everything you own for the next 60 seconds of airtime. it's a blast. Thread owned, you are the boss!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_magicfingers Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Thread owned, you are the boss!!! Really, I'm not but thank you for saying so. You should meet some of the folks I've jumped with, the ones with 10's of 1000's of jumps who've done way more amazing things. I was, and still am, a novice at this game, I've not jumped in 10 years now sadly. I just wanted to show that you can do some amazing things in the sport with not much experience if you fall in love with it and can travel a bit. The more you jump, the more experience opportunities open up to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua1993 Posted April 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Really, I'm not but thank you for saying so. You should meet some of the folks I've jumped with, the ones with 10's of 1000's of jumps who've done way more amazing things. I was, and still am, a novice at this game, I've not jumped in 10 years now sadly. I just wanted to show that you can do some amazing things in the sport with not much experience if you fall in love with it and can travel a bit. The more you jump, the more experience opportunities open up to you. Thank you for everyone's replies and especially yours! Wow, you've had some fun, even with only a few hundred jumps I can only hope that my adventure goes as well when I decide to start.... I'm just biding my time at the moment but plan to start in the next several months once I've worked out my finances ect... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Am sure that your not flying, surley its free falling ? Flap your arms as much as you want but your still hurtling towards the ground fast ! Thats part of why I could never do it ! ATB Matt Instead of just falling through the air you start properly flying with other people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_magicfingers Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Am sure that your not flying, surley its free falling ? Flap your arms as much as you want but your still hurtling towards the ground fast ! Thats part of why I could never do it ! ATB Matt You are falling, that's absolutely right, but you're still flying in that I can change the speed I fall at, I can fall at anywhere from 100-200mph, I can move across the ground by changing my body shape etc. If you've seen people in wing suits, I think you'd agree that they're flying while they're falling and I can do the same thing but to a lesser extent. If I'm falling with a group of people I will have to change my speed to match their fall rate, if we're doing formation work then I'm turning and moving through the air relative to them, when we break off I track away from them at about 40mph across the ground. I'm not 'just' falling straight down, I'm flying my body in 3 dimensional space Here's a couple of examples, first some basic formation skydiving. and then some freeflying, I think you'd have to agree these folks are actually flying through the air in control, not just falling. ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welsh1 Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 That second video is almost hypnotic,must be an amazing experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Surely its just control of the fall not flight, I have always thought of flight as being able to take of and land at will like a bird or plane ! ATB Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_magicfingers Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Surely its just control of the fall not flight, I have always thought of flight as being able to take of and land at will like a bird or plane ! ATB Matt I've sat in a glider for quite a while before, willing it to fly. Didn't work. Had to get towed by a plane. Sure as hell flies when it's up there though. Not everything that flies can take off unaided though most can land in some fashion. If it was just control of fall then you'd only fall straight down, I'm travelled several kilometers during a skydive. However, we're splitting hairs on the definition of flight. when skydiving I'm not falling uncontrolled, my body is acting as an aerodynamic system and I'm making regular inputs to change my flight characteristics. I'm falling downwards while 'flying' sidewards, forwards, backwards etc. These are definitely flight movements. That second video is almost hypnotic,must be an amazing experience. yeah, it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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